Monitoring system and method

Abstract

A baby monitor system and method has a baby monitor unit which collects sounds of a baby to be monitored. The sounds collected are analyzed and crying sounds are identified and categorized into a set of different crying types. A first alert for a first carer receiver unit is generated for a first sub-set of crying types and a second alert is generated for a second carer receiver unit for a second, different, sub-set of crying types. Thus, two (or more) carers can be allocated care responsibility for the baby for different crying types, to provide a division of care.

1 . A baby monitor system, comprising:
 a baby monitor unit having a microphone for collecting sounds of a baby to be monitored and an output system for providing alerts to a set of at least two carer receiver units; and   a processor arrangement for triggering alerts for one or more of the carer receiver units,   wherein the processor arrangement is adapted to:
 analyze the sounds collected by the baby monitor unit; 
 identify crying from the analyzed sounds and categorize the crying as one of a set of different crying types; 
 generate a first alert trigger signal for triggering a first alert to for a first carer receiver unit in response to the crying being one of a first sub-set of crying types; and 
 generate a second alert trigger signal for triggering a second alert to a second carer receiver unit in response to the crying being one of a second sub-set of crying types, different to the first sub-set of crying types. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the set of crying types include a hunger crying type and at least one non-hunger crying type. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the first sub-set includes the hunger crying type and the second sub-set does not include the hunger crying type. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the non-hunger crying types include: sleepy, discomfort, need to burp and stomach pain. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the baby monitor unit comprises a health monitoring system, wherein the processor arrangement is further adapted to use baby health monitoring information to generate the first and second alerts. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor arrangement is further adapted to use carer sleep monitoring information to generate the first and second alerts. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor arrangement is further adapted to take account of carer schedule information to generate the first and second alerts. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor arrangement is further adapted to take account of a response time to an alert trigger signal in order to change the characteristics of the alert trigger signal or to switch to a different alert trigger signal. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising the set of at least two carer receiver units. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein each carer receiver unit comprises a smart watch and/or smartphone. 
     
     
         11 . A baby monitoring method, comprising:
 collecting sounds of a baby to be monitored at a baby monitor unit; and   providing signals for triggering the generation of alerts for one or more carer receiver units by:
 analyzing the sounds collected by the baby monitor unit; 
 identifying crying from the analyzed sounds and categorize the crying as one of a set of different crying types; 
 generating a first alert trigger signal for triggering a first alert to a first carer receiver unit in response to the crying being one of a first sub-set of crying types; and 
 generating a second alert trigger signal for triggering a second alert to a second carer receiver unit in response to the crying being one of a second sub-set of crying types, different to the first sub-set of crying types. 
   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the set of crying types include a hunger crying type and at least one non-hunger crying type and wherein optionally the non-hunger crying types include: sleepy, discomfort, need to burp and stomach pain. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11  comprising using carer sleep monitoring information to generate the first and second alerts. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11  comprising using, to generate the first and second alerts, one or both of:
 carer and/or baby health monitoring data; and 
 carer schedule information. 
 
     
     
         15 . A computer program comprising computer program code means which is adapted, when run on the processor arrangement of the baby monitoring system of  claim 1 .